5 Things to Know About Shalane Flanagan
Shalane Flanagan just announced she is running the NYC Marathon, her first marathon after injury.
Photo: Photorun.net
Shalane Flanagan just announced she will be running the 2017 New York City Marathon. This will be her first race at the distance since returning from a back injury. She has run New York previously in 2010, where she finished second. Between that race and now, Flanagan had multiple career defining performances. She made two Olympic teams, ran a PR of 2:21:14 at the Berlin Marathon in 2014 and had two separate gutsy performances in the Boston Marathon.
Here are five things to know about this fierce female runner.
She’s got talent running through her veins.
Flanagan’s mother, Cheryl Treworgy, is a former marathon world record holder and a five-time World Cross-Country participant. Flanagan’s father, Steve Flanagan, was also a World Cross-Country participant and boasts a marathon PR of 2:18. So Shalane was basically destined to be a gifted runner.
Photo: Shalane Flanagan Instagram
She married a runner.
Shalane met her husband, Steve Edwards, in college. Both were members of the cross country and track teams at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Serving as Flanagan’s agent and sometimes training partner, Edwards is a huge source of support.
She’s tough.
Imagine racing around a track for 25 laps. As fast as you can. In hot temperatures. After you had food poisoning. Flanagan overcame less-than-ideal circumstances during the 10,000-meter finals of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, but she didn’t let the warm weather or tummy troubles slow her stride. Flanagan earned a bronze medal, which was later upgraded to silver after second-place finisher Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey tested positive for a banned substance. She also set a new American record in 30:22.22, shattering her own American record set earlier that year.
Photo: Shalane Flanagan Instagram
She enjoys eating.
Flanagan has teamed up with whole-foods chef and food writer, Elyse Kopecky, to publish a cookbook called Run Fast, Eat Slow. Flanagan and Kopecky were teammates at North Carolina. The pair seeks to show runners how they can fuel their performances through whole foods. Both are working on a follow up right now.
Photo: Shalane Flanagan Instagram
She recently became a foster mom.
While training for Rio, one of Flanagan’s teammates emailed their team, Bowerman Track Club, to find a foster home for two girls during their senior year of high school. Flanagan and her husband immediately agreed. The girls, Breauna and Keauna, moved in and have been a part of Flanagan’s family ever since.